CHAPTER 6

DAMIEN

I waited back as I heard her crying. She was probably questioning what she ever did to deserve a bastard like me, but she has no idea.

When you're all alone in this big fucked up world waiting for someone to hold out a hand and tell you it's okay, and it never happens, you just have to stand up on your own and face the monsters in the dark to become one of them.

Growing up with the idea of revenge is strange because once your plans start falling into place, it's almost like a dream come true—one that's seemed impossible for years.

I made her cry this evening, but I have worse things in mind. A wound for a wound. Someone else should suffer the way I did, someone else should feel as helpless as I did.

I left the house after I was sure she wasn't going to leave and headed around to the backyard.

There was an underground basement in the yard that had been built a few years ago and I've been using it ever since to hold small meetings and do business that I couldn't do in my office. Sometimes business got a little too messy.

The trap door which was hidden with grass on top was a few feet away from the pool next to one of the palm trees. I felt around with my foot, knocking my boot hard until I heard the hollow sound of wood.

Reaching down, I grabbed the latch and pulled the door up, before climbing down the creaky stairs.

Below the bluish tube light flickered and buzzed and when I reached the bottom, the strong stench of bleach hit my nose. It was almost always bleach or the cloying odour of blood constantly hanging in the air down here.

"He said he doesn't know anything about any shipment."

I turned around to see Rob standing next to a man that was tied to an old office chair. The man was a capo for the Trovatos. One that I had heard was corruptible with a few extra bucks in his pocket.

He had dark red blood dripping down the side of his face, which means that he made Rob mad and Rob isn't easy to anger. Usually, it's me who loses my shit fast.

So I reached into the back of my jeans and pull out my gun before cocking it and then I place it against the man's forehead.

"This can be easy or difficult," I said, my jaw ticking with irritation. I fucking hated it when people made me wait. "I already gave you the money you asked for and now what you're doing is fucking around with me."

"Look, I said I'll get the information you need—"

I cut his words short, by hitting him with the gun on his head. The sound of the crack sent a shiver down my spine. A smile pulled at my lips as I saw another stream of blood coursing down the side of his forehead.

"And I said at the beginning, I fucking hate excuses, non gliel'go detto, Rob?"

Rob nodded as he grabbed the man's head and pushed it up so that he was looking directly into my eyes.

"I don't play games and you have no idea where I'm from. And if you can't give me the information I need, then I'm sure that there will be someone else more willing," I said, watching as the colour drained from his face. His smug expression had disappeared and now he wore the look of a dead man.

Before he could reply, I pulled the trigger. Once, twice and then again, thick blood splattering across my face. I watched as his eyes closed half-mast and his throat bobbed, the only sound filling the basement was of him trying to get out words that didn't make sense. And then silence and the irregular buzz of the tube light above us.

"Fuck," I muttered a minute later as I wiped my palm across my face. "Get rid of this piece of shit."

I kicked the chair and it scraped back against the concrete floor. Rob didn't say anything as he left to get a few other guys to help him out.

"How else am I going to find out about that shipment?" I asked Rob who was now rifling through the man's jacket pockets. "He was supposed to be the one we could pay off. Who the fuck are we going to pay off now?"

"I know another guy," Rob said, after a moment of silence. "I'll bring him in tomorrow."

I ran a hand through my hair and nodded. "Good. Bring him in then and do whatever you have to."

Rob silently nodded again as he and the other guys rolled the man onto a large plastic sheet.

He knew now that I truly meant war when I said I wanted to go through with the wedding. I wanted to hurt the Trovatos at all costs. I'd do everything to change the way things were done. For years they've been monopolizing the streets, instilling fear in everyone they came across, torturing innocent people that didn't deserve it, and exploiting the poor and weak. Well, now it was time for a change in who reigned.

I left the hidden basement and went back into the silent house. The door to my bedroom was slightly ajar, so when I glanced through the space, I saw the outline of her small figure in the far corner of the bed.

I could hear a soft hum and decided that she was sleeping, so I moved into the room as quietly as I could and shut the door behind me.

The blood was still all over my hands even though I'd wiped them, so I had a quick shower in the adjoining bathroom. I stared at the shower floor, watching as the blood mixed with the water and pooled at my feet.

I'd become so used to pulling the trigger and slitting throats that some part of me felt no remorse at all anymore. Not even for the men that didn't deserve to die by my hands.

The day I decided to become this other person was the day I forgot everything my father had taught me. I forgot about being a good person. Being good and honest only got you killed in this world. Now, all that existed within me was a darkness that not even I was sure I could control. It had grown from me wanting full revenge to a complete obsession where my whole being was now consumed with endless thoughts of murder and retribution.

Like a disease, it latched on to me, until it was consuming my every thought and every action. I woke up with revenge and went to sleep with revenge. My sanity was slowing fading.

After I got out of the shower, I pulled on another clean set of clothes and climbed in beside her.

Her back faced me and I stared at her bare shoulders for a long moment. She wore a white silk night dress, with spaghetti straps. Her dark was open and fanned out across her back.

I watched as her shoulders rose with each deep breath she took. For a second, I almost felt like reaching out and touching the slender curve of her neck or her smooth porcelain skin and I wasn't sure why.

Pulling my hand back, I turned around and faced the darkness on my side of the room. She and I could never be together. She was mine now and I didn't love her and I never would come love her. She was part of that family, birthed from that rot. I could have fucked her tonight if I wanted to, but taking advantage wasn't on my list. Besides, she'd never come to love a monster. Not one that wanted her family ruined for good.